Chapter 1976: Total Annihilation

A dozen transcendents of the Soul Guard organization stood in front of the steam door, staring at Su Xiao with vigilance. The underground hall was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

"Lan, what should we do."

The one-eyed teenager spoke, still staring at Su Xiao while speaking.

"First disperse..."

Lan just spoke, and a roar came from behind them. The steam door behind them closed and locked.

In the center of the underground hall, Su Xiao grasped the sheathed "Blade Dragon Flash." As he stood up, the long sword was already unsheathed, making a crisp sound.

"Be careful, this is the Ninth Unit Commander, said to be one of the three strongest in the empire, if I'm not mistaken."

The red-haired girl drew the thorn swords from both sides of her waist and crossed them in front of her chest.

"Are you kidding me, how could we encounter such a character."

"Stop talking nonsense, he's coming this way."

A dozen transcendents all assumed a defensive posture, while Lan took a deep breath.

"Mr. Kuku Lin, we came here without any malice, just wanting to save Lady Nidia. Even if she violated imperial law, she should accept the judgment of the Arbitration Court, not be imprisoned here."

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak. He was observing, observing who among these people was the leader.

Lan waited for a moment and found that Su Xiao had no intention of talking to him at all. That attitude was already very clear: if you have the ability, kill your way in; he wouldn't talk nonsense with him at all.

After Su Xiao's preliminary observation, he felt that the blonde teenager who spoke just now, and a red-haired girl holding double thorn swords, should be the representatives among these dozen people. As for the others, killing them would be fine.

Determining this point, fine cracks appeared on the marble slab under Su Xiao's feet, blood energy spread, and the next moment, he disappeared in place.

"Careful..."

Lan just let out a loud roar, and he felt a sense of crisis appear. This feeling made all the hair on his body stand up, and he almost instinctively jumped backward.

"Blade Dao Sword · Time."

Dong.

A shockwave spread, Lan, the red-haired girl, the one-eyed teenager, and others all slowed down. Su Xiao didn't know when he had already stood among the dozen people.

"Blade Dao Sword · Wind Ten."

Clang.

A cross-shaped blade light flew out of the blade, heading straight to slash at the one-eyed teenager. The one-eyed teenager raised his arms somewhat slowly, forming an air wall in front of him.

The cross blade light slashed past. The one-eyed teenager still maintained the posture of stretching his arms flat. A huge cross appeared on the air wall in front of him, and two intersecting blood marks appeared on his torso.

While Su Xiao slashed with one sword, he had already tilted his body, and a thorn sword pierced past his shoulder. It was the red-haired girl. Her speed was very fast, but for Su Xiao, her speed could only be considered fast, not to the extent of being unable to dodge.

While tilting his body, Su Xiao kicked straight, kicking the red-haired girl in the lower abdomen.

Bang!

A piece of clothing on the red-haired girl's back exploded. She let out a muffled groan of pain, spraying blood from her mouth, and her body flew backward uncontrollably.

With a "boom," the red-haired girl crashed into the wall on the right side of the underground hall, leaving only a hole.

In the crowd, the long sword in Su Xiao's hand didn't pause for a moment. He activated the "Dragon Shadow Flash" ability to penetrate space and appeared behind three transcendents.

These three transcendents all felt a sense of crisis behind them, but unfortunately, this became their last sensory perception.

Puchi, puchi, puchi...

Blood splashed, broken limbs and torsos cut into two halves flew horizontally, like chopping melons and vegetables.

The three corpses hadn't landed yet, Su Xiao stepped on the ground, and a few gravels flew up.

Su Xiao grabbed one of them casually, Green Steel Shadow energy wrapped around the gravel, and it was thrown out directly by him.

The gravel broke through layers of shockwaves, and a transcendent just wanted to dodge the incoming gravel with a backflip, but the gravel had already pierced his skull, flying out with broken skull bones and brain matter. This was a typical "full of flashy operations," but in fact, just by straightening his body, he was headshot.

Su Xiao's left fist clenched, and the "Banished" clinging to his sleeve flew out, forming six small hiltless thorn swords.

Puchi, puchi...

A total of six transcendents, two of them dodged the "Banished," but before they could breathe a sigh of relief, the "Banished" had already made a sharp turn, piercing through their backs.

16 transcendents entered the underground hall, and in less than 10 seconds, most of them were killed. You know, the battle had only started for 6 seconds.

"Blade Dao Sword · Slaughter."

Su Xiao slashed diagonally, and a bloody blade light slashed out. This blade light didn't fly out but expanded rapidly after leaving the blade edge.

With a "whoosh," the bloody blade light swept past, and one could vaguely see golden light inside. It was Lan. He resisted "Blade Dao Sword · Slaughter" and was slashed away, crashing heavily into the wall.

After this sword, only Su Xiao was left standing in the underground hall, and pools of blood gradually spread on the ground.

A dozen transcendents rushed in aggressively, and in less than 10 seconds, most of them were killed, and four were seriously injured.

Lan slid slowly from the wall, leaving a streak of blood on the wall.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Lan coughed while holding his mouth. There wasn't a place on his whole body that didn't hurt, and his clothes were full of fine cracks. The enemy's strength was simply not in the same dimension as them.

"I am... the mastermind."

Lan spoke with great difficulty, however.

Ding, ding!

The "Banished" pierced through the two seriously injured transcendents. Now, only Lan and the red-haired girl were still alive.

"Adjutant, come out to collect the corpses, lock these two in the dungeon."

"Coming, coming."

The little adjutant ran out from the iron door on the inner side of the hall, grabbed Lan by the collar, and looked at the seriously injured Lan.

"Yo, you look quite handsome, just a bit stupid."

Soon, the corpses in the underground hall were cleaned up, and Lan and the red-haired girl were locked in the dungeon, becoming cellmates with the Soul Speaker.

Even if the Ninth Unit had been disbanded, it wasn't something a civilian transcendent organization could challenge.

Five hours later, in the somewhat dim dungeon, the Soul Speaker was still muttering something, and in the next cell were the seriously injured Lan and the red-haired girl.

"Lady Nidia, sorry, we were too reckless."

Lan sat in the dungeon with his head down, his face gray.

"You have already tried your best, this might be the arrangement of fate."

The Soul Speaker smiled kindly at Lan and the red-haired girl. Seeing this scene, Lan lowered his head even more.

"Others will find a way, we need to wait now, appease these greedy power-holders, absolutely cannot reveal even a word to them, absolutely cannot."

The Soul Speaker's mood was actually very bad. The organization she had operated for several years didn't play any role at the critical moment.

"There are... no others left."

Lan gave a miserable smile, and the red-haired girl beside him covered her face

"Over a hundred Soul Guards..."

The Soul Speaker's expression began to turn ugly.

"Some are dead, some have fled. Only the two of us can continue to fight."

"..."

The Soul Speaker fell silent. After a full few minutes, she finally spoke:

"The civilian transcendents are used to being undisciplined; to think they would be so unreliable at a critical moment."

The Soul Speaker stopped looking at Lan and the red-haired girl.

Hearing this, the red-haired girl's pupils gradually constricted. She looked at the Soul Speaker with a face full of astonishment, feeling that she might have misheard just now.

"Sure enough, you were using us, but... sorry, I was too weak."

Lan was not particularly surprised. Compared to the red-haired girl, whose worldview was on the verge of collapsing, he was much calmer.

"Lan, you really are the smartest."

The Soul Speaker's gaze toward Lan at this moment held some gratification, and this time, it was indeed from the heart.

"The purpose for which you gathered us isn't actually important in my view. Regardless, you have led us to save many civilians over these past few years, and that is enough."

Lan leaned against the cold wall, a smile appearing on his face—one of bitterness, but also of nostalgia.

"You two, find a way to end it yourselves. This is the Ninth Unit; I have dealt with them many times. They will use methods you cannot imagine to interrogate the two of you for information."

Perhaps because Lan had laid things out clearly, the Soul Speaker gave a warning that was fairly sincere.

"Information? Is that what you often listen to at night?"

Lan smiled indifferently.

"..."

The Soul Speaker did not speak; she closed her eyes and continued to whisper.

Boom!

A loud noise came, and the Soul Speaker, Lan, and the red-haired girl were all startled.

The Little Adjutant and Baha, who were guarding inside the underground prison, exchanged a glance.

"It's not the first or second time the Moon God Monastery has sheltered the Soul Speaker. Are they going to turn hostile directly this time?"

"That bi*ch, the Moon Goddess."

Baha cursed in a low voice and took the Little Adjutant to rush out of the underground prison.

Not long after, shouts of killing and explosions came from above.

"This is our chance."

Lan stood up with some difficulty. He searched himself but didn't find what he wanted, so he began searching the red-haired girl. Soon, he tore a metal ornament off the red-haired girl's boot.

Lan came to the cell door and attempted to pick the lock.

"Lan, when did you learn to pick locks?"

The red-haired girl was somewhat confused; in her understanding, Lan would never do anything underhanded.

"Before joining the Soul Guards, I made a living by stealing."

With a click, the cell door was opened. Lan walked quickly to the Soul Speaker's cell door and began picking the lock.

"Lan, don't waste your effort. I won't live much longer; in three days at most, the chronic poison in my body will take my life."

The Soul Speaker stood up and walked to the cell door, seemingly scrutinizing this young man she had been using all along but had never truly seen through.

Hearing the Soul Speaker's words, Lan's hand paused.

"The Soul Guards will continue to exist. Farewell, Lady Nidia."

Lan bowed, helped the red-haired girl up, and turned to leave.

"The one who trusted me the most was actually Lan. How ridiculous."

Watching Lan's back as he gradually walked away, the Soul Speaker gave a hoarse, low laugh and lightly touched the tattoo on the back of her other hand with her finger. She had not been injected with chronic poison; she just didn't want to risk leaving. She had long anticipated that the Moon God Monastery would step in, which was why she was so fearless.

Just at this moment, Lan suddenly stopped, pushed the red-haired girl aside, and stared at the Soul Speaker inside the cell.

"That pattern is very important to you, isn't it? And the one on your face—making you lower your guard was indeed difficult."

Lan took a small knife from his bosom and traced the tattoos on the Soul Speaker's face and the back of her hand on the ground.

The Soul Speaker looked at Lan in confusion.

"What a cautious old hag. Under mental induction, you didn't even leave a will? Was my performance just now not emotional enough? Or is your resistance to mental induction very strong?"

'Lan's' hands reached to his chin and began to tear at his own facial skin.

When 'Lan' pulled off his facial skin and hair, his appearance changed drastically, turning into a gaunt man who was also a bit shorter.

This man was known as the Face-Peeler, Aaron Lu, a transcendent whose ability was to disguise himself as others by peeling off their facial skin.

He had committed treason and murder, and had repeatedly impersonated officials of the Dawn Empire and the Simoro Empire, causing direct or indirect economic losses of up to 2.68 billion gold pounds. He was one of the three prisoners held in the secret prison.

"This should be enough. Thank you, Lady Soul Speaker. You saved my life; I sincerely thank you."

Aaron Lu pressed his index and middle fingers against his forehead, while the Soul Speaker at this moment was gnashing her teeth and glaring at Aaron Lu.

The red-haired girl climbed up from the ground; even now, she still didn't fully understand what had happened.